Museu-Espetáculo: reflexões ecosóficas sobre o museu do século XXI (no percurso de uma viagem de balão)

Abstract

The manifestations of the spectacle in museums are considered subjective attributes, commonly associated with the terms “spectacular” and “spectacularization”. Such terms derive from the critical notion of Society of Spectacle, developed in the 1960s, although they were already used with approximate or divergent meanings. The term Museum-Spectacle is equally subjective and depends on subjective valuation criteria. This thesis presents the Museum-Spectacle as a social and cultural phenomenon related to the socialization of knowledge, to social representation and to social development. To this aim ethical, aesthetic, and epistemological approaches, common to Museology and other fields of knowledge, are proposed. We opted for the construction of a parallel narrative of socio-cultural analyzes of times and spaces associated with the Golden Age of Airships in Brazil (1930-1937), as well as to the holding of international events that motivated the creation of three Brazilian museums: Science and Technology Museum in Recife (in conception), the Santa Cruz Ecomuseum (1995) and the Museum of Tomorrow (2015), in Rio de Janeiro. The public perception and expectations of development generated by the passage of airships in Brazil, as well as by the holding of major events, are analyzed in similarity, as a result of the same spectacular phenomenon. The areas where two of these museums are located preserve material testimonies of the passage of airships. On the other hand, the Museum of Tomorrow was opened months before the Summer Olympics 2016 in Rio, in the port area of Rio de Janeiro. By means of the analyzes presented, it is argued that the Museum-Spectacle is a common phenomenon to any museum, to a greater or lesser degree. Their motivations and impacts are ambiguous. It is also considered that the ontogenesis of the spectacle, as a cultural phenomenon, manifests itself as a “common ancestor” to several forms of artistic expression, including those of the Museum and of the Theater. Due to its ambiguity, the Museum-Spectacle can serve both the tourism and entertainment industries; it may also establish itself as a mediation tool for critical and reflective perception of social, political, cultural, and environmental “realities”.